26. Data infrastructure in social policy research

Kathrin Komp-Leukkunen (LUT University)

Achim Schmid (Socium and DIFIS at University of Bremen) 

Stream on data infrastructure in social policy research Generally, there is a rich data infrastructure for comparative social policy research in Europe. Eurostat provides microdata such as the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU SILC) or the EU-Labour Force Survey. The European Social Survey and Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the Social Policy Archive for SHARE are organized as European Research Infrastructure Consortiums. Data collections such as MISSOC (Mutual Information System on Social Protection) provide for context information on the design of European welfare states and further data collected by international organizations and research networks tend to be most extensive for European countries. Yet among European countries, there are also considerable differences in the availability of data for social policy research. The Nordic countries are known for the availability of administrative microdata from different sources. Also, the Dutch Statistical Office (CBS), the French Institute of Statistics (INSEE) or the recently created Austrian Micro Data Center allow data linkage and foster opportunities for causal analyses and new empirical insights. In other countries, access to administrative data is more restricted and information that links administrative and survey information is less developed or lacking. Deficits may also refer to administrative data of social insurance funds, data at regional or local level, common standards in federal systems, information on corporate welfare, or the coverage of specific social groups and/or topics in social policy research. These deficits constrain research approaches as well as social policy consultancy and the development of science-based policies as a response to social problems and challenges welfare states are facing.  

This panel aims to discuss current conditions of research data infrastructure for (comparative) social policy research and calls for contributions addressing strengths and weaknesses of data infrastructures in specific social policy fields,data gaps and requirements for new surveys or the expansion of existing survey programs,innovative and/or best practice approaches to realize the potential of existing data sources,the institutional forms of policy advice that can help to make use of improved data infrastructures for science-based policies.